Ars Technicast Episode 19–Video games of the FUTURE Future future…

What changes will we see in console gaming in 2013? We gaze into the VR glasses.

Gaming Editor Kyle Orland does his best Lawnmower Man impersonation using the Oculus Rift.

According to our gaming editor Kyle Orland, video games are at a real transition point. Nintendo just released the Wii U, its next-generation console, and many of us are speculating about what’s to come from other major companies like Sony and Microsoft. What’s more, open-source projects like the Ouya and the Oculus Rift could really impact the way people play games. And then there’s mobile gaming, which is changing the gaming landscape in its own right.

So what can gamers expect in 2013? In this episode of the Ars Technicast, we talk about where we think the industry is headed and which new players might have real impact. Senior Apple Editor Jacqui Cheng, Social Editor Cesar Torres, and Senior Reviews Editor Lee Hutchinson join Kyle in a discussion about hardware, software, and indie development issues.

If you like what you hear on the Ars Technicast, please leave us a comment below or give us a rating in the iTunes store. Of course, you don’t have to use iTunes to subscribe. You can listen to the show right here on the page using the player below, and you can find us in Stitcher and Soundcloud. You can also pick us up in your RSS reader.

What are you looking forward to in 2013 when it comes to console gaming? How do you think mobile and indie gaming will impact the gaming ecosystem?

I think Kyle's description of the Xbox Live Indie Game marketplace is a little too generalized. Yes, there are a ton of crap games in there, but there are also lots of really really good ones. Several of the voxel style games on there have sold over one million units, and games like Bleed, Sequence, Blocks That Matter, and Hamster Physics are all top-notch games, some of which have been ported to and done well on other platforms such as Steam. And they're far from the only good games on the platform.

There are a lot of crap games on there, but don't be so quick to paint the whole channel with the same brush.

With new consoles coming out, maybe PC gamers will finally see better games, seeing as most PC games are just console ports of games needing to run on 5yo hardware.

One can only hope.

Hope for an end to the days of open-world games with awful low-resolution textures, constant and unending and extremely obvious pop-in, low draw distances, jaggy shadows, instanced interiors and all those other terrible foibles that we've been stuck with over this entire generation of consoles!

Wow. You can actually hear Kyle's disdain for the Wii U, it's not just his writing.

Hey, no gaming company should be immune to some criticism but you really get a sense that Kyle wants to see Nintendo wiped off the face of the gaming landscape. It's rather sad. I've noticed this tone in every Nintendo article since Kyle took over.

I would be nice if Ars could find an objective Gaming Editor, or if Kyle could quit acting like Nintendo launched a Blue Shell at his house.

Wow. You can actually hear Kyle's disdain for the Wii U, it's not just his writing.

Hey, no gaming company should be immune to some criticism but you really get a sense that Kyle wants to see Nintendo wiped off the face of the gaming landscape. It's rather sad. I've noticed this tone in every Nintendo article since Kyle took over.

I would be nice if Ars could find an objective Gaming Editor, or if Kyle could quit acting like Nintendo launched a Blue Shell at his house.

(I'm a PC gamer, by the way. Last console was a PS2.)

The problem with Nintendo is they could just as easily become a software company (better than Sega) that dabbles in interesting 3rd party controllers for other existing consoles. The only thing they really have going for them is their 1st party titles. Port them to another console, sell a funky controller, and you wouldn't have to buy yet another console just to play as Mario or Link or Ash.

When they make a console that can play most games I have with scanlines for the Xbox and earlier consoles I do not care about the noob box anymore. The training wheels are bad enough but the price is insane for what you get....

i expect that the inexpensive RPi and various MAME builds for it will shift the whole industry into a nostalgia track that will last for at least a season. the big 2 will compete (more than they do now) by implementing emulators of their own, and working out licensing. only a few will purchase a console to run call of duty XMC, and they will complain endlessly at the fan noise.

With all the talk about the Ouya, I'm surprised there was no mention of nVidia's android portablefor a similar target audience. I'm only 21min in so maybe it's mentioned in a bit. But doesn't seem like it from the comments so far.

I think Kyle's description of the Xbox Live Indie Game marketplace is a little too generalized. Yes, there are a ton of crap games in there, but there are also lots of really really good ones. Several of the voxel style games on there have sold over one million units, and games like Bleed, Sequence, Blocks That Matter, and Hamster Physics are all top-notch games, some of which have been ported to and done well on other platforms such as Steam. And they're far from the only good games on the platform.

There are a lot of crap games on there, but don't be so quick to paint the whole channel with the same brush.

We don't even get the Indie channel, here in Australia Though, to get around this, we just make a secondary US account

Was just reading the yahoo article about the feb 20th PS4 announcement and saw their link to the (rumoured) specs of the dev kit.

I'm excited!

Consoles are finally becoming more like gaming PC's so we can likely look forward to MUCH better PC ports of games. PC gaming may actually start making a comeback.

Will be great for all gamers. Plus Scaler engines which the latest iteration of engines build in the ability(instead of the ol' Middleware), will allow your gaming beast of a PC (if you have one )to max-out your favourite game, like the good ol' days. Allowing Devs to build at the highest quality, and scale down if needed.

Cesar Torres / Cesar is the Social Editor at Ars Technica. His areas of expertise are in online communities, human-computer interaction, usability, and e-reader technology. Cesar lives in New York City.